Frustration.....Engine management light and "Limp" mode.

[jr4070]

Hello all.

This is a quick rundown of an Issue my 11 plate 156 GT at 70 000 miles is having.

Best thing about this story is I bought it from a dealer and I extended the waranty.

So .. The Gloom.

I have had the car 15 months. Bought it at 64 000 miles with the intention of slow driving the milage to "Normal" level.
I have achieved this, but mainly because I work overseas a fair bit and the car is in the workshop.
The timing chain "death rattle" occured from the moment I had the car.. Took it back and it was all changed under waranty.
Two weeks ago I was on my way to work, 2 miles into a 30 mile comute and the amber engine warning light came on with associated warning of maintenance required. I took it home and completed the journey in my 14 year old Punto.

That evening I took it to the dealers, the management light was on as ecpected but the car ran ok. They worked it the next two days and it came back with "Spark plugs changed"

My first diagnosis when it originally failed was that it felt like a coil pack, it felt rough, almost 3 cylinder rough, so perhaps the plugs could have been at fault. I could not get to the car then for the remainder of the week and picked it up on the following friday.
My collegue dropped me off at Peugeot Garage and I waved him away in thanks for the lift sharing I have been forced into.

Pick up the car .. Nothing to pay. Great.

I get the car 200 yards up the road, overtook a bus and IT ALL HAPPENS AGAIN.... just as I was pulling infront of the bus.. Nasty!

Car goes straight back to Peugot....Fans running faster than any helicopters blades and displaying a management light.. They give me a new 208..Nice but not an RCZ.......I have'nt got mine back YET...

IT HAS HAD.

(No codes given out in all of this process)

A new HP fuel pump. Fault still apparent. Aparently with the pump fitment the ECU was reset, it now needs to "learn" the driving profile but the turbo is out of acceptable tolerence and a further fault is induced..

A new turbo solenoid. Fault still apparent, original or induced?
A new Turbo. Yet to hear if this has fixed it.


I am over two weeks without the car....

Is it a coil pack?
Is it coaked up?

I guess I'll find out the hard way.

 

[DKZ5745]

From reading the symptoms & having seen many similar issues on the forum, it does sound like a coil(s) that has given up. You would have thought that a Peugeot dealership would know about the more common faults thrown up by the Prince engine & gone there first.
In their defence, I assume they work from a diagnostic tool, and that this tool is not telling them it's the coil pack, so they haven't replaced one.

Maybe they will eventually work their way round to this, by which time you should probably have more or less a new engine :dance: however the down side being that you will have not had your Z for some considerable time.

I suppose st some point down the line, a call to Peugeot UK might be in order asking them to sort their dealer out. :eusa-think:

 

[jr4070]

So..

I went to get the car after its turbo replacement....

Gave back the 208 and drove off into the night......400 yards up the road, exactly the same symptoms.

Took it back to the dealers who were locking up for the night and went home in a 208..... again.

They had it over a weekend, I inform them I want a good road test on it and on the Tuesday I get a call, my car is ready.

It turns out there is a fault code for low fuel pressure. Apparently there wasn't enough fuel in it. The amber had been on when it broke down on me last, but really.. the low fuel will make the car run in limp mode .............Ummmm.

So its now back with me.

I have to gain confidence in it again.

 

[DKZ5745]

I think you need to take it out and drive it like I do mine. If there is still a problem it will soon show its ugly head, and if you do it & nothing happens, it's all sorted and all is good.
If you give it a good old run earliest opportunity, then if there is a lingering issue, it's not like the dealer will think they had sorted it & this could be something else.

I know you will be concerned every time you approach the red line, but it's pointless having a car like the Z and not daring to push it when you want/need to, so you have to go for it, see what happens & go forward from there.

 

[2retro]

...it's pointless having a car like the Z and not daring to push it when you want/need to.

+1 :thumbup:

 

[jr4070]

Re: Frustration.....Engine light and "Limp" mode. (Update)

So...

Since my last post I have driven the car with a niggling feeling of "this is not right.."

When cold it feels "lumpy".. It does smooth out after time, but it just does not not feel right.

I told the wife I would book it in again after XMAS for a diagnostic check.

The car broke down this morning at 06:30 am on a crowded road.. The same syptoms as before. Engine management light and limp mode.

Fuming is not the word......... 3 months this has been dragging on.

Back To peugeot tonight......... :brickwall:

 

[2retro]

I once had a car die on me on the main Chesterfield roundabout at 8:30am on a wet Monday morning - it was a humbling experience which I would not wish to repeat so I feel your pain.

Come to think of it that was a Pug too but it was only a cheap and cheerful 205 runabout. There wasn't much cheerfulness on that day though - from me or the several hundred commuters stuck behind me! :eusa-whistle:

 

[jr4070]

An update.
The car is still in the dealer. A miss fire on no 1 cylinder was noted. They have swapped 4 to 1 and the fault cleared.... Techie took it out and returned saying it does'not feel right, it is as though it is running rough all the time.. (that's what I thought before it threw a caption on me) They are now investigating the timing..It had a chain and tensioner earlier in the year..... OMG.When will this car be driveable. I have a dealer 208, not head turner but blue tooth DAB and DRIVEABLE...

 

[Anonymous]

OMG jr4070. I really am going to have to stop looking at posts on here before I get my car on Saturday. I'm trying to stay positive and focus on all the good posts but yours is probably one of the worst I have read. Your problems have been going on since October and still not fixed. I think I'd have cracked up by now. The only good thing I can take from this is I feel lucky that my 10 plate only has 36,500 miles on it whereas yours was nearly double that and a year newer.

Hope you get sorted soon though.

 

[jr4070]

I hope none of you have any of these issues. There really should be a praise area on all forums, it can't be doom and gloom for everybody.. There has to be praise for the Z. It is a cracking non run of the mill car that turns heads every day...I want mine back though please Mr Peugeot...

 

[DKZ5745]

If anyone reads any of my posts (non reply posts) I cannot praise my Z enough.

I still go out and watch every time my OH drives it away (although there is just a tinge of hoping it comes back looking the same) but mainly I just still LOVE the car to bits. I'd have 2 if I could afford it, one to drive & the other just to look at :thumbup:

 

[tianorth]

Re: Frustration.....Engine management light and "Limp" mode.

I'd have 2 if I could afford it, one to drive & the other just to look at :thumbup:

I would be the same.

 

[jr4070]

It's returned.. The RCZ has come home. The tails of woe will hopefully finish here.
It appears that my timing chain was out of adjustment. ...
Fitted new just over 12 months ago it has managed to drift out of tolerance. . I need to look up how this can happen. But for now..It's all go.

 

[RCZash]

Re: Frustration.....Engine management light and

I'd have 2 if I could afford it, one to drive & the other just to look at :thumbup:

I would be the same.

Not my intension when I bought the Z, but hay ho, looking at the car is what I`ve done for most of the time. Reasons for this have been mentioned in different posts. 4500 miles covered in two and a half years! Fully intend to put some miles on the clock this year provided the Docs let me. Booked the Yorkshire and Dutch trips, looking to attend the FCS and Pugfest to name a few.

Back to this posts theme. Glad your back in the car JR hope it runs well from now on.

 

[jr4070]

So......
The problem is BACK. I have had trouble free driving with that nigly feeling of this isstarting to "feel" wrong again.
I went to book a routine 2 yearly service and requested that the timing be checked as I thought it was starting to feel rough again. The service booking agent loked at me a little strange but said she would add it to the service..
This was Friday the 4th of Nov 16. Sat morning I changed a dipped beam bulb and left the car all day, I have a 205 Gti for tinkering with so I went off to play with that. Sat night was a trip to the hospital to visit my mother in law and boom.... It broke down. Same dash warning and limp mode. Fans doing ten to the dozen and a rough idle. I am now done with it.....The wife is also fed up, all faith lost.........

 

[DKZ5745]

Omg. I really feel for you. I have read on these pages of one or two cars that for one reason or another just couldn't be made "right", regardless of the reapairs undertaken.
I do find it strange with today's technology, that dealerships cannot correctly diagnose a fault(s) correctly first time, or at the very least, second or third time.

It is easy to let the beauty of the Z cloud our minds with issues of this nature, but at the end of the day, it is just another car, it just happens to be an amazing one when working as it should.

There are always other Z's out there, and as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, the vast majority of Z owners (especially Mk2 owners) have had more or less trouble free motoring from day one.

It would be easy for you to want to steer clear of another RCZ, but the issues you have had could have happened on any make or model, so realistically, and even statistically, if you were to get another RCZ the chances are it would give you no trouble, just as most of us have found.

For your part, it might well be best to get yours running right & give those robbing people at we buy any car, or Evans Halshaw a call, or just trade it for your next ride.

The cost of owning an RCZ has never been cheaper, with even "R" models going for @£15K so if you could bear to try again, choose a MK2 (less reported issues all round) go for one with service history, & know that your faith & smile will be restored in the Z again.

 

[jr4070]

Took a call from the Pug dealer today, my cars service and engine issue has been resolved. On requesting the cause of my issue the receptionst did not know, I asked her to phone back with the "fix" this time. An hour later the answer was given to me......No fault aparent.! The fault had disappeared and could not be reproduced.. I asked if a test drive had not shown the problem...... It appears that no test drive was carried out! I have asked for a test drive to be carried out. They did state that an ECU software recall update had been carried out, but they could not tell me why it had to be upgraded....Um. The story continues.

 

[jr4070]

The car is back.

The dealer investigated the engine warning lamp being on. Fault code P1337 was found to be stored. This fault relates to: Combustion misfiring on cylinder number 1.
They cleared this fault and carried out engine software recall identified as HEE.

According to the dealer, this software is a recall for all RCZ petrol engines. It is for injection, ignition and knocking, (pre ignition of fuel) issues.They said it was generated in June of this year...
The internet says different... I can only find ref on a Spanish forum, the translation is a bit shaky but it makes ref to 2015 and THP 160 Engines ...

The car at the moment does "feel smoother", it may be a psychological repair but I will take anything at this point...

Does anyone have anymore info on the HEE software update?

 

[DKZ5745]

Having read on this forum about a software update that might relate to timing issues / general improvements, I asked about the update when my car recently went in for its 3rd service. I was told there was no update relating to my car, they had looked, and could not find anything about an update, and even if there was an update, it couldn't possibly improve any car that had timing issues, as that required a physical action, and could not be improved by any software update.

They got quite shirty about it really, & as I didn't have any problems with my car (I just like to think I have the latest software - if they've gone to the trouble of writing new software it can only be an improvement of some kind) I didn't push the matter.

 

[Anonymous]

My 2014 wifes 156 had the software update done to her car, prior to the usual death rattle on her mk2 a few months ago. I asked about further information regarding the update, service manager said it was just to rectify knocking sounds to the engine. Would not give me any further information. I didn't stop the noise/rattle coming from the timing chain/tensioner. A new timing chain kit, however did do the trick. Replaced under warranty.
Although 2 pug dealers came up with different information. One said there was an outstanding update on the car, other one said no updates were available. Strange, but true.
I also asked to have a look at the old chain after it was changed, the service manager showed it to me in an open parts box from a distance. Wouldn't let me get anywhere near it. Must have been worried I was going to run off with it lol.
I've not found pug dealers to be a very hospitable lot, apart from when they're taking payment or when offering to do unnecessary work.